Selasa, 03 Juli 2012

The secret to swimming faster? Spread your fingers

The secret to swimming faster? Spread your fingers

  • Gaps between fingers work like 'webbing' to speed swimmers up
  • Forked hands let swimmers exert 53% more force, speeding them through the water faster
  • Key to success of professional swimmers

By Rob Waugh

PUBLISHED: 11:59 EST, 3 July 2012 | UPDATED: 18:47 EST, 3 July 2012


It may be hard to swallow for amateur swimmers, but keeping your fingers firmly together to create an oar-style effect is not the best technique.

Instead, counter-intuitive as it seems, keeping the fingers slightly apart like a fork apparently makes a swimmer faster.

A study claims that an ‘invisible web’ of water is created by spread fingers, allowing swimmers to propel themselves with more force â€" and that the technique is already used by the professionals.

Forked hands exert up to 53% more force than tightly clasped 'paddles' say researchers

Forked hands exert up to 53% more force than tightly clasped 'paddles' say researchers

‘It is a counter-intuitive idea, the fact that you should paddle with a fork, not with an oar,’ said researcher Adrian Bejan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

The reason is that when a solid object moves through a fluid, the layer of fluid that touches the surface ‘sticks’ and gets dragged along with the object.

When swimmers spread their fingers just right, each individual digit forms its own layer.

Moving ahead: Researchers believe the perfect spacing is between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the diameter of the finger

Moving ahead: Researchers believe the perfect spacing is between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the diameter of the finger

With ideal finger spacing, the forces a swimmer can exert in this way are 53 per cent greater than those produced with no finger spacing, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology.

The perfect spacing is between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the diameter of the finger.

This allows swimmers to lift themselves more easily out of the water, where resistance is lower, resulting in increased speed.

Mr Bejan added that the findings could also have implications for the development of better automated propulsion systems.

Writing for Mother Nature Network, Stephanie Pappas from LiveScience advised people settling down to watch competitors at the London Olympics should take a good look at the hands of the swimmers.

She says that chances are their fingers will be slightly spread.

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

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As a coach and teacher of many years experience, I know this but still teach the closed hand for learners as to get the fingers spread apart in the right position is actually very hard, more a technique for an advanced swimmer. A good swimmer who feels the water would actually do this automatically. Like most teaching, if I said to a 5 year old "open your fingers" then they would take it to the opposite extreme and it would have no effect. General leisure swimmers dont rush to change your technique it will have no effect, we really are talking about good competitive swimmers putting in a lot of miles!

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I can't imagine using a fork as an oar .? I don't think I would get very far ?

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Cupped hands cause a lot of forearm strain and wrist problems, even if you do not see noticeable gains in speed - because you're not a competitive swimmer - you will notice reduced forearm problems if you clock up lots of distance in the pool.

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Similar to drag in aerodynamics then.

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To those commenting saying this is nothing new, maybe not new to you, but this article is also for people that never knew, like me and countless others!

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Man from Atlantis has been doing this for years .

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I was always taught exactly the opposite.

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This is hardly news DM... It's been well known within swimming circles for years. It's also not quite as easy as you make out either as you need to have strong fingers to stop them 'vibrating' through the water-which will decrease rather than increase the 'effective surface area' of the hand. Interestingly, a good demonstration of this concept however is to put your hand out of the window as you drive along and notice the change in force on your hand as you relax your fingers and then 'cup' them. The air rushing by the car acts in the same way as the water in the pool as they are both fluids.

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As a competetive club county swimmer I was taught this as a kid, some 20 years ago. Hardly a new discovery.

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